Tepco power demand hits highest level of year

Maximum electricity demand in Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Kanto service area reached 95 percent of total supply capacity Friday, the highest level so far this year.

Power demand in and around Tokyo surged to 39.7 million kw between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Friday, Tepco officials said.

It is the first time the rate has climbed to that level since Nov. 28 last year, when it hit 96 percent.

The officials attributed the high reading to people turning on air conditioners amid unseasonably hot weather, and the suspension of a 600,000-kw unit due to a glitch at Tepco’s thermal power plant in Fukushima Prefecture.

The previous peak seen this year was 94 percent, in January and February, according to the officials.

LNG arrives from Angola

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Tepco on Saturday received the nation’s first spot cargo of liquefied natural gas from Angola, ship-tracking data show.

The Lobito, with a capacity of 155,000 cu. meters, docked at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Futtsu terminal in Chiba Prefecture, according to transmissions by IHS Fairplay.

It had been scheduled to arrive Friday.

The ship loaded the supercooled gas in Angola at a Chevron Corp.-led LNG plant in the city of Soyo and departed Aug. 11, the data show.

Japan, the world’s largest importer of LNG, does not have any long-term contracts with Angola, according to Bloomberg data.

The Futtsu terminal has a capacity of 20.2 million tons per year and receives term shipments from Indonesia, Malaysia, Qatar, Australia, Oman, Abu Dhabi, Brunei and Russia. The Lobito’s cargo was the third shipment loaded at the Angola LNG plant since June, when the facility became operational.